Kruse

Eva Kruse writes: "This music is for you. No matter how old you are. No matter where you come from. No matter where you go. Peace & Love." Eva Kruse studied acoustic bass and improvisation at the university of arts "UdK" in Berlin with Sigi Busch, Jerry Granelli and David Friedman. She also studied in Sweden with bassist and professor Anders Jormin. From 1999-2001 she was a member of the German youth-jazzorchester "BuJazzO," where she took classes with pianist John Taylor who inspired her to start writing music for different bands and projects. She has released five albums on ACT Records, toured worldwide over the last ten years, and has won two Grammys in Germany alongside her ensemble the "Eva Kruse Trio."

Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is almost exclusively associated with his later works. Born in 1935, his early music was very much ‘avant-garde’ in style. In the 1970s, he increasingly found his inspiration in medieval religious music, both western and eastern European. This first transpired in his Für Alina for piano. It features the telling low tempo and two layer structure which were to become trademarks of his later works.

The Royal Danish Orchestra’s performing history stretches back to 1448, making it the oldest orchestra in the world, with Carl Nielsen counted amongst its distinguished former members. His 16 years of experience as one of the orchestra’s second violinists helped shape him as a composer, and it was this ensemble that introduced his symphonies to the world. From the ‘imminent storm of genius’ of the First Symphony to the disarming outlandishness of the Sixth, Nielsen’s symphonies are recognised as among the greatest in their genre, heard here in recordings made with a league of conductors whose bond with Denmark and Nielsen’s music is second to none.

The exciting Berlin trio Michael Wollny / Eva Kruse / Eric Schaefer present their third album: no easy task, after all of the last few years’ critical praise that has accompanied the two previous albums they recorded for ACT, and the same critical acclaim has followed their live performances.
At its best, and in its greatest moments, jazz is the art that unearths the universal elements that lie buried in each individual. The ad-hoc arrangements of many jazz recordings stand in stark contrast to this aspiration, and to escape the curse of the smallest common denominator, it’s also necessary to have a fixed formation in jazz. Yet especially in German jazz, groups that remain together and come out with new CDs over a longer period of time are the exception…